Great Basin Highway

We left Rachel early in the morning and drove on US 93, the "Great Basin Highway" north, crossing the Great Basin, passing by mountain ranges, valleys and humongous wide open spaces. There are almost no towns or villages, gas stations only every 120 miles, a handfull of ranches in the distance, that's about it. Landscape consists of sage, pinon, and, in the southern part, still Joshua Trees and Chollas, typical for the Mojave Desert. Besides (mostly free ranging) cattle, there must be elk, mule deer, bighorn sheep, mountain lions, rattlesnakes, etc. in abundance. We only observed mustangs and burros.

Caliente was the first small town en route - famous for its hot springs. We drove into nearby Kershaw-Ryan State Park (pics) with Rainbow Canyon and hiked a short trail. This place was formerly considered an oasis in the desert with wild grape vines, different flowers, trees - all in an elevation between 4,300 to 5,100 ft. 1873 a guy by name Kershaw founded the first ranch on the grounds and sold it to the Ryan family in 1904. It became a State Park in 1935 and it is gorgeous! Also, considering its solitude: we were the only visitors.


15 mi. north of Caliente an even bigger surprise: Cathedral Gorge SP, once homeland of the Paiute, was declared one of NV's first State Parks in 1935 and is a very unique one: volcanoes, earthquakes, water and erosion created spires, caves, slot canyons and buff-colored cliffs. We hiked the Miller Point Trail into the gorge and up to a lookout with gorgeous views.


Also, we also explored the cliffs, caves and the slot canyon - a really bizarre rock formation:

Pioche - our next stop - is a small former silver-mining-town 8 miles north of Cathedral Gorge. It's partly a ghost town today with the old Overland Hotel and Saloon and a sort of picturesque Main Street. With a little luck, we found an open café and embraced the opportunity and got us burgers for lunch.

What followed, was a pretty lonesome drive of about 110 miles to the next town, Ely (pic), through the Lake Valley on an elevation of about 6,000 ft. Some cattle ranches and, again, a ramrod straight road, lined by mountain ranges on both sides in the distance, with the towering Wheeler Peek - 13.063 ft high - as its prominent feature. 30 mi southeast of Ely US 93 meets US 50 (the so called "Loniest Highway") and after having climbed Conners Pass (7,733 ft) down we drove into Duck Creek Valley, where Ely, another old mining town, is situated. We stayed in the Jailhouse Casino & Motel with the Cellblock Restaurant, where meals are being served behind bars. Even more unique is the Northern Nevada Railroad in Ely, a historic railroad and station bulding, which we had a chance to ride last year: